


Lullaby (or How Claire Helped Aunt Darcy Meet Her Soulmate)

by Archetype_ElectraHeart



Series: Avengers Soulmate Fics [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Darcy Lewis babysits, Darcy Lewis loves a good stream of consciousness babble, Darcy Lewis-centric, F/M, One Shot, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Tony is offended by shoddy engineering, rating is for some swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-25 05:58:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6183367
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Archetype_ElectraHeart/pseuds/Archetype_ElectraHeart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy Lewis had hoped for a slightly less embarrassing first impression on the one-and-only James Buchanan Barnes, but nap time waits for no man (or woman).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lullaby (or How Claire Helped Aunt Darcy Meet Her Soulmate)

**Author's Note:**

> It's Spring Break, so I'm flexing my fingers and trying to get back into writing a bit more by dipping my toes into a new fandom.

Darcy Lewis was the best little sister (and aunt) in the world. 

But seriously—she was, without a doubt, the kindest and most self-sacrificing of them all. If there was an award she would damn well deserve it. 

And she was absolutely, incontrovertibly planning on reminding her brother of this fact when he called to let her know that he and his wife had safely arrived in France for their belated baby-moon.

(Which, seriously, what the FUCK is a baby-moon and who came up with that lame ass name?? She was embarrassed to even _think_ it within the privacy of her own mind.)

Because although she had agreed to watch her beloved and adorable niece for two weeks so that her equally beloved adult family members could have some romantic time sans _enfant_ over the holidaysshe had not been adequately warned that getting little Claire to sleep required occult-ritual levels of planning. 

 

She had returned to Stark Tower with Claire in tow two days earlier, fresh off her week-long visit home to Baltimore for Thanksgiving to the news that Steve Rogers (AKA Captain America) had returned to the Tower with a freshly deprogrammed James Buchanan Barnes (AKA The Winter Soldier) and that they were settling in on their own private floor. And although Darcy’s inner history nerd was practically buzzing with excitement at the thought of meeting Bucky freaking Barnes, she was at least mature enough to realize that:

  1. Poor guy had gone through some SERIOUS shit and would not be the Bucky Barnes she had read about in history books, deprogramming or no.
  2. Poor guy deserved all the privacy she could possibly give him because the Tower’s residents had very strange definitions of “privacy” and “personal space” (i.e. _NO, Clint, you cannot just drop in through the air vents whenever you’re bored_ or _Tony, why do you know that my high school reunion is coming up—STOP HACKING MY EMAIL_ )
  3. She was ever-so-slightly under-prepared to move a very small human into her apartment full-time for two weeks (who knew that cribs were so hard to assemble? who knew that Tony would insist on improving it to his own nebulous safety standards mid-construction? NOT DARCY) and so had plenty on her plate without considering the Tower's newest permanent resident.



 

All of which is to say that although they had been in the same building for just over 48 hours, Darcy Lewis had seen hide nor hair of James Buchanan Barnes or his keeper, Steven Grant Rogers. (Which, for real, what was up with the Old Timers and the over-use of their middle names? Less than a handful of people on this earth knew her middle name, and she had every intention of keeping it that way, thank you.)

Darcy had at least figured out that Claire would not fall asleep in her crib, but only in a cross-body sling while Darcy moved about (but like, only small and smooth movements, which was SERIOUSLY limiting) and sang to her. Once Claire was solidly asleep, Darcy could transfer her to the Tony-Stark-customized extravaganza but _not a minute before_ because Claire would startle out of her sleepy state and start crying and Darcy would have to start the cycle _all over again_.

And the thing was that Darcy had to do this like, four times a day, because babies Claire’s age needed three naps during the day AND something like 10 hours of sleep at night which HELLO, JEALOUSY, THY NAME IS DARCY LEWIS.

 

So Darcy was in the common area, trying to wind Claire down for her second nap of the day by swaying back and forth while singing Disney songs ("A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes," anyone?) and absentmindedly reading the online edition of the Times where JARVIS had projected it onto the window.

And ok, she had fallen into a slightly over-optimistic sense of security because this was like, the eighth time she had done this in a common area of the Tower with no one noticing her dancing and singing with a goddamn infant strapped to her chest (aside from JARVIS, obviously) and so she MAY have moved past simple swaying and gotten a little too Disney Princess™ with the dance moves.

 

Which is why she came very _very_ close to shrieking in terror/surprise/embarrassment when she turned around to find two visibly amused super soldiers watching her from the doorway. But there was no WAY she was starting all over again trying to lull Claire to sleep, so instead of shrieking she simply put a finger to her lips and glared very emphatically to keep the boys quiet before pointing to the infant cocoon on her torso. James Buchanan Barnes (she really needed to figure out what she was allowed to call him, because the history textbook full-name thing was getting old, even in her own head) simply nodded, as did Steve, although he looked confused regarding the whole sudden-baby-acquisition thing. Darcy very carefully began to make her way to elevators, still humming some kind of nonsensical melody since Claire was _thisclose_ to optimum sleep levels for the crib transfer while also signaling to Steve that she would be right back, once she had divested herself of the baby _._

 

 

And so, with Claire safely ensconced in the Fort Knox of cribs and JARVIS serving as the most thorough baby monitor in the history of ever, Darcy returned to the common floor to find Steve and James Buchanan Barnes reading the Times where she had left off with coffee mugs in hand.

_“I will explain the weirdness with the baby, I swear, but I’m just gonna grab some coffee first, because even though she sleeps for like 20 hours a day I am so sleep deprived, I swear on Thor’s hammer.”_

Darcy swerved off into the kitchen before she could notice that Bucky Barnes had gone very still and very wide-eyed.

Steve slowly turned to look at him, only slightly less gobsmacked. “Buck, aren’t those…”

“My words. She just said my words.”

 

Both men were still standing just as she had left them when Darcy returned with a steaming mug of coffee and her best welcoming smile.

“Sorry about all that. I’m watching my niece for my brother and sister-in-law while they’re in France, and there is this whole ritual you have to perform to get her to actually fall asleep and really no one with super-hearing should _ever_ have to hear me sing and I really had every intention of making a far better first impression on the long sought-after James Buchanan Barnes.”

There was a brief pause as Bucky tried to figure out what to say to his soulmate (?) and Steve deferred to Bucky since Darcy was, after all, _his_ soulmate.

Finally, a very familiar smirk appeared on Bucky’s face as he looked up through his lashes at Darcy. _“Well, I suppose it’s a good thing that I like the sound of your voice, doll._ ” 

And for the first time in a very _very_ long time, Darcy Lewis found herself speechless.


End file.
